This classic movie series also became an NES game series, adding to the list of “Poorly Ported Movies Into Games”. (I’m sure this list exists somewhere.)

And strangely enough, this commercial reminds me of that Universal Studios “Back to the Future” ride. And instead of assaulting our innocent game player with monsters or characters, he vouches for the driver’s seat of the DeLorean complete with a Nintendo console on the Dashboard while he does exciting things that flash by so quickly you can’t really tell what this game is supposed to be about.

But based on my childhood memories of playing Back to the Future for the NES, you really aren’t missing much. You are Marty McFly, time traveler, doing irrelevant and boring game activities like collecting clocks laying about the level and blocking away little hearts thrown out from Lorraine, presumably her “kisses”.

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Actually, this advertisement is for the Back to the Future Parts II & III NES game, which plays completely differently from the original Back to the Future NES game.

The original game is indeed filled with those activities that tried to follow the plotting of the first movie (collecting clocks during a skateboarding scene/blocking hearts from Lorraine later), but the sequel–which combined the final two movies into a two-part sidescroller–is more concerned with platforming than with being faithful to the films. The most interesting part of II/III is the time travelling element: for example, a seed collected in 2015 can be planted in 1955 and, by 1985, grow into a platform plant that Marty can use to reach a higher part of the level. Overall, a much more fun game than the first.